I'm Not Afraid
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: Percy Weasley was afraid that his past would follow him forever. The Weasley who did not fight; the Weasley who did not help. He will forever carry the mark and wounds of those times, but over the next year, he will learn so much more. He will learn that his past does not define him, and he will learn to fly.


_**Chapter one of twelve, for the 'Just a Year Challenge' by teddylupin-snape, using the prompt 'map'. Yes, all these chapters will be about Percy (and probably Aubrey). **_

_**Also written for the 'If You Dare Challenge' by Slytherin Cat, using prompt # 493, cold pizza. Trust me, it will show up within the story…I promise. **_

_**Enjoy! (Also, happy birthday to Darwin! I promise, this isn't your birthday present.) Warning, I apologise to anyone with a Scottish accent; in my mind, Aubrey is from Erskine and went to a special school in Glasgow. She speaks with an accent. I apologise. I don't own anything you recognise.**_

….

_I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid  
To take a stand, to take a stand  
(Yeah, it's been a ride)  
Everybody, everybody  
(I guess I had to)  
Come take my hand, come take my hand  
(Go to that place to get to this one)_

_-Eminem, "I'm Not Afraid", 2010_

_January 7__th__, 2000_

Percy liked to think he knew his way around the Ministry; after all, he was the senior assistant to Minister Kingsley, and had been working with the Ministry since he graduated Hogwarts in 1994. He liked to imagine that he knew all the little odds and ends of the entire building, even if he hadn't been to a majority of the various offices, or even met a quarter of the people who worked at the Ministry. But Percy was independent and didn't think he needed the helpful maps that had been put up last November when an entire new wing of the Ministry had been built, and three Wizengamot members had been successfully lost for two hours looking for Courtroom 7. However, Percy had been working here for six years; he knew what he was doing.

At least, that's what he had told Kingsley, when the Minister had asked if he was fine escorting the new junior assistant-Percy's assistant-around the Ministry's upper offices, to make sure she didn't get lost each day to work; Percy remembered his own first few weeks with a sort of cringing, recalling how he had been met with stony silence as he came in ten or fifteen minutes late because his office was way in the back, past absolutely _everyone _in the entire department. And Percy, foolish Percy who had already wasted so much time watching the pretty girl downstairs near the elevators who had taken his old job with the Department of International Magical Cooperation; Percy had decided to offer his help with this new assistant, in the hopes she would take his mind off Audrey Gilmore.

But, walking towards his office the first day back from Christmas holidays, which was much more spacious than it had been a few years back, he was greeted by a girl with grey eyes and strawberry blonde hair; she was familiar and made Percy's stomach twist in knots as she sat at a small desk outside of his door, looking ready and excited. She was Audrey Gilmore, the girl from downstairs, the girl that made Percy feel like a childish, babbling idiot. Audrey Gilmore, the girl he had spent hours and hours coming up with excuses for, so he could just catch a glimpse of her every few hours. She didn't even know his name, although, as the assistant to the Minister, he had been able to pull up _her _information all too easily. (Something he would probably have to mention one of these days, considering how he had been able to just flash a badge and get a co-worker's files. It would be nasty if someone _outside _of the Ministry did that.)

Audrey stood up, a smile on her face, and her hand extended. She warmly shook Percy's hand, who stood there with wild surprise, and he knew he ought to be saying something right then, but nothing was coming out. She gave him a strange look, like she was trying to figure out what was wrong, and his heart began racing; what if she recognised him as the guy who always came downstairs to walk by shyly? What if she laughed at him, or figured out that he was _Percy Weasley_, the asshole who had left his family behind. He gave her a nervous smile, which she returned, though she didn't seem as happy and bubbly as she had a second ago, when he hadn't been shaking her hand for a straight forty seconds; he dropped her hand with a nervous chuckle, mentally cursing himself.

"Um, hey. I'm your, uh, new boss, Percy. Um…nice to see you. Audrey, right?" He was rambling and cursing himself, wishing he could just take back the past ten months when he had been embarrassing and idiotic around her, and he especially wished he could take away _right _now, because he was acting so _stupid _and she made him feel like such a little kid, like when he had been sixteen and thought he was in love with Penny. (She had moved on over the summer, when they both realised they were more interested in personal goals compared to relationships.) "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting you. I mean," he stumbled, seeing the hurt look on her face. "I...I wasn't expecting you _today_." A lie. "You surprised me."

Audrey stood there for a moment silently before smiling once more, patting Percy's shoulder comfortingly. "You're the lad from downstairs, yeah? The one who always came down by ma place? I knew I'd seen ye afore; ye looked familiar. So, the mysterious bloke from ma corner of the office is ma new boss? Didnae anyone inform ye about yer new assistant?" She seemed to trying to hide a laugh as Percy's eyes widened at her thick accent; he hadn't really heard her speak before, and she had a rather thick Scottish accent.

"Do you always talk like that, miss? I ask only because you might have to do a lot of communicating, and that sort of thing might….distract people." He wiped his hands on his pants, feeling horribly self-conscious as she gave him a look. "I think it's a lovely accent, but, well, you know. Some people might not feel so comfortable about it all. I mean…sorry, I really am trashing all of this up, aren't I?" He took a deep breath, trying to summon up the courage that usually came with knowing his own position. Why was it that this _one _girl, out of the hundreds he had seen every day at school, how was it that she was the only one that seemed to turn him into a blathering idiot.

She smiled at him, though her eyes betrayed the annoyance and possible anger, even as she spoke. "Of course I can talk like a _normal _person, Mr. Weasley." She had dropped her accent almost entirely, though Percy could still pick up a hint of Scottish as she spoke. "I wouldn't want anyone to feel offended that they have to deal with an Erskine girl, now would I?" Percy spluttered, trying to respond in the most cordial and diplomatic way he could think of-mostly something along the lines of gaping at her and wondering which deity, exactly, was it that wanted him dead-when Audrey began chuckling. "You should see the look on your face, Mr. Weasley. It's hilarious. You really did look scared."

"Right…."Percy said, trailing off. The cold pizza that he had had for breakfast that morning (Percy wasn't normally like that, but it had been a rather hectic Christmas holiday for him.) was churning in his stomach. "Right….um, how about that tour, now? I…. I could show you around; I mean, I bet this place is a lot different from Level 5, yeah?" He really did feel sick now, and was beginning to think that cold pizza, pretty girls, and coming in late on a Monday was really not the best idea, considering how stressed out it was making him, now.

"Sure," Audrey said. "Is that okay, though? I mean, will anyone care that you'll be spending awhile from your job, distracting me from _my _job, and all just to take a tour of our department? How much power do you have in this area, exactly that you can just _leave _for ten or twenty minutes and do whatever it is you want to do?" Something seemed to click in her head as she spoke, and she looked at Percy with a smirk. "Do you get to just _walk out _whenever you want, and no one does anything? Can _I _do that?"

"I'm the personal assistant to the Minister," Percy said, his chest puffing up ever so slightly as he spoke. "No one is really going to question me; it's unlikely that they'll question you, as long as you flash them your badge. And, yes, I can leave whenever I want, but, as such a high-profile employee, I really must stay here and do my job effectively. Also, no, you can't leave whenever you want-I'm your boss, and I'm expecting you to follow the guidelines. Now come on, I'll show you around."

….

Twenty minutes later, when Percy had managed to successfully get them both lost, and he wasn't actually sure where they were anymore-there weren't any recognisable signs or even an elevator-he wasn't feeling so proud of himself. In fact, he felt kind of embarrassed having to explain to his new assistant that he really had no idea where they were or how to get back; luckily, she laughed, and said something about having seen a map a few metres back that might lead them back to their offices. Percy wasn't as sure about Audrey as his assistant as he had been first walking in, but he was rather glad that at least he'd probably get to know the sarcastic, funny girl that he would now be working with.


End file.
